So excited to share Dr Melillo’s exercises…. By the way… have you seen my video on doing the Moro Reflex on our YouTube channel? We’ve been treating kids with primitive reflexes that are jammed for nearly 15 years. Does this feel like you could benefit from these exercises?

5 Exercises That Inhibit Primitive Reflexes

2016-03-182016-03-18http://drrobertmelillo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Logo-Melillo-Final-Approved-Horizontal-1.pngDr. Robert Melillo

Through an extensive research survey, we have demonstrated the relationship between the retention of infant reflexes and a wide range of neuro-developmental disorders like autism and ADHD. These retained primitive reflexes can have long term effects on cognitive development even into adulthood. Once your child has been assessed for primitive reflex retention, targeted therapeutic interventions are available to improve neurological development. However the first step to the program is to inhibit any retained primitive reflexes found.

The way to get rid of primitive reflexes is to use them. The following reintegration exercises are provided for the reflexes that are most consistently associated with a brain imbalance. These exercises can help start the process of balancing the brain so that your child can overcome developmental delays. These exercises can also be done by adults and parents, of whom as many as 40% may also have retained primitive reflexes. Rest assured that this initial step in remediation is easy and does not take long. However, 20 plus years of experience has shown that if we use a hemispheric integration program, like The Brain Balance Program along with these exercises, these reflexes are inhibited much more quickly.

Face Stroking for Root and Suck Reflex

Stroke the childs face until the reflex stops, which usually takes five to six times in a row. Do this at least twice a day until you can no longer elicit the reflex. Chewing gum can also be helpful to inhibit this reflex.

Starfish for Moro Reflex

Have your child sit in a chair in a fetal position, with the right wrist crossed over the left and the right ankle crossed over the left ankle. Fists should be closed. Ask your child to inhale and make like a starfish by swinging his arms up and out and thrusting his legs out while extending the head back and opening hands. Have him hold this position for 5 to 7 seconds while holding his breath. Then tell him to exhale and return to the same position, crossing the left wrist and ankle over the right wrist and ankle. Repeat this again until they are back to the original position Do this 6 times in a row a few times a day until the reflex is inhibited fully.

Snow Angels for Galant Reflex

Have your child lie face-up on a mat or flat surface with his legs extended and arms at the sides. have him breathe in an simultaneously spread his legs outward and raise his arms out along the flour and overhead, with the hands touching. The hands should touch at the same time the legs are fully extended. Exhale and return to the original position. The key is to get the child to move all four limbs slowly at the same time. Do this 5 times several times a day until you can no longer elicit the reflex.

Ball Squeezes for Palmer Grasp Reflex

Have child squeeze a small ball, such as a tennis ball, several times in a row. Or you can just stroke the palm of the hand with a light brush until the reflex is suppressed.

Fencer Exercise for Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex

This one may take some practice to get right, so be patient. Have your child sit in a chair and turn his head to both sides or to the one side that still elicits the reflex. As your child is turning his head, have him extend the foot and arm of the same side outward from the body and look at his hand. The opposite hand should also open, the arm should flex, and the other leg should bend. Have the child return to starting position and repeat until the reflex fatigues. Repeat three times in a row.

Key Things to Remember

Exercises should be repeated in succession 5 to 10 times until the reflex fatigues.

I’ve been doing kinesiology since 1996 and have been doing LEAP for over 12 years. It is a growing science – and the complications of today’s children’s with poor diets, sugar intake, lack of fruit, vegetables, organic proteins, high use of medications and increasing numbers of vaccinations – the problems we see at New Leaf Natural Therapies are more and more complicated.

Occasionally we get children where we can modify the diet and improve brain integration and they flourish. Occasionally! What’s more often is that the Primitive Reflexes have been jammed due to a stressful pregnancy; the vaccinations have weakened the immunity; the family situation has created stress and chaos in our young ones’ life.

We can help! We can look after our children!

Logical Creative Brain

TO LEARN OR NOT TO LEARN? – WHY? IS THE QUESTION!

An introduction to the Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program – LEAP by Charles T. Krebs, Ph.D. Developer of LEAP

Introduction to Learning Difficulties All learning dysfunctions, hence difficulty in learning, have their root in how the brain functions. The brain is designed to learn. From the time we are born until we die, learning is as natural as breathing, and certainly as important since our very survival depends on it. Initially it is our physical survival that depends on learning “Look both ways before crossing the road”. Later, in technological societies, it is our economic survival and success that are dependent upon what we learned in our educational and training environments.

Since learning is so natural, why is it that some of us learn easily and others learn only with difficulty? Why do some of us have a difficult time learning traditional skills such as reading, spelling, and mathematics?

It may be said that it is all a matter of access: what brain functions you can access, how well you can access the functions available, and what you have to access. A person with low innate intelligence, but full access to all brain functions may find learning difficult. On the other hand, a person of high innate intelligence, but with problems accessing specific brain functions may also experience difficulty learning, at least in some areas.

The brain functions much like water running down a hill; it will always take the most direct processing route available. Unimpeded, water will always run straight down the hill, but if its path is blocked, it will seek the next most direct route down the hill. If that path is also blocked, it will again seek the next most direct route, etc. Each time it is blocked, the pathway becomes longer and less efficient at getting the water down the hill.

The same is true of processing in the brain. If all functions are equally accessible, the brain will always choose the simplest, most direct functions to do the processing required. However, there are many ways of performing all mental tasks and the brain will just choose the next most efficient route for processing, if the most direct function is not available/accessible for whatever reason. If the next most efficient pathway is also blocked, the brain will then route the processing to other functions that are accessible, even if these functions are a far less efficient way of processing that information.

If many brain functions are not accessible, the processing path may become very long and inefficient creating difficulties in doing tasks dependent upon these processes. Each time the processing path becomes longer and less efficient, the level of “stress” encountered using that pathway increases. When the level of “stress” reaches a high enough level, we may opt out of situations that require us to access these functions altogether.

Different learning tasks require access to different functions and/or combinations of functions in the brain. The brain can be divided into several functional regions, each of which processes information in different and often unique ways. The two brain regions recognised most commonly by people are the right and left cerebral hemispheres. When the brain is removed from the skull, it appears to have two distinct “halves” because of the deep longitudinal fissure separating the cerebral hemispheres (Fig. 1).

In the popular press these are often referred to as the “right and left brains” because of their anatomical distinctness and the differences in the way each hemisphere processes information.

These two hemispheres are not separate, however, as they are connected along most of their length at the bottom of the fissure by a structure called the Corpus Callosum (Fig. 1). Neurologically, the Corpus Callosum is approximately 200 million nerve fibres running between the two hemispheres. It functions much like a telephone exchange allowing a two way flow of communication between the hemispheres. Whenever the hemispheres are required to “work together” to produce an integrated function, the Corpus Callosum is the site of that integration.

Each cerebral hemisphere carries out a number of different functions, and each processes information in a very different way from its partner. It is as if each side of the brain is a specialised organ of thought, with the right hemisphere possessing a set of functions that complement those of the left hemisphere and vice versa (See Table 1). The right hemisphere functions in most people are global or Gestalt in nature dealing with the whole and recognition of overall patterns, while the left hemisphere functions in most people deal with logically sequenced analysis of the parts of the whole. It is because of these differences in functions and processing that the right hemisphere is sometimes called the “Right” or “Gestalt” brain and the left hemisphere the “Left” or “Logic” brain.

Table 1. Functions of and Information Processing in the Right and Left Hemispheres in most people.

While the popular press may refer to it as right and left brain thinking, it is not the physical hemispheres housing these functions that is important, but rather the location of the Gestalt and Logic functions themselves.

In some individuals these cerebral functions may be transposed with the Gestalt functions physically located in the left hemisphere and the Logic functions physically located in the right hemisphere. By the definition of the popular press, these people would have their “right brain” in their “left brain”, which doesn’t make any sense. They just happen to have their Gestalt functions located in their left hemisphere and their Logic functions located in their right hemisphere.

About 3-5% of people, however, display transposed Logic and Gestalt functions with 95-97% of people having their Logic functions in their left and their Gestalt functions in their right hemispheres.

Because the dominant hand tends to be opposite the Logic hemisphere, most people are right-handed, while many people with transposed functions (e.g. Logic right) tend to be left-handed or ambidextrous.

It must be emphatically stated here that both hemispheres participate all the time at many levels in the “various thought processes.” The way we learn is a result of the degree of integration of the two hemispheres, with each hemisphere contributing its own special capacities to all cognitive activities.

The contrasting, yet complementary, contributions of each hemisphere are clearly demonstrated during complex mental activities such as reading as illustrated in the following quote from Levy:

“When a person reads a story, the right hemisphere may play a special role in decoding visual information, maintaining an integrated story structure, appreciate humour and emotional content, deriving meaning from past associations, and understanding metaphor. At the same time, the left hemisphere plays a special role in understanding syntax, translating written words into their phonetic representations and deriving meaning from complex relationships among word concepts and syntax.” (1)

Although there is no activity in which only one hemisphere is involved, or to which one hemisphere makes the only contribution, functions predominantly in one cerebral hemisphere may be all that are required for many simple cognitive tasks.

There is both psychological and physiological evidence that the relative degree of activation of functions in the two hemispheres varies depending upon the nature of the task being performed. When doing simple arithmetic tasks such as counting or adding 1 + 1, the Logic functions will be activated with little Gestalt activity required. A predominantly Gestalt task, on the other, such as matching patterns, will require little Logic involvement. The more complex the learning task becomes, the greater the required degree of activation and integration of functions in both hemispheres.

Different learning tasks, therefore, require access to different types of functions, and different degrees of integration of these functions. Some of these functions are located predominantly in the Gestalt/right brain, while others are located predominantly in the Logic/left brain. The more complex learning tasks like reading and spelling require access not only to functions in both hemispheres, but the integration and simultaneous processing of information in both hemispheres. Therefore, if you can access all brain functions in both cerebral hemispheres with equal facility and can integrate all these functions well, you will probably find learning easy!

However, if for any reason you cannot access certain brain functions or have difficulty integrating the functions accessed, you may well have difficulty performing tasks dependent upon or involving those specific brain functions. From our perspective, all specific learning difficulties result from some lack of access to specific functions or the inability to effectively integrate these functions (assuming there are no organic problems). Depending upon how well a person can access certain Gestalt and/or Logic functions, he will demonstrate one of the patterns of specific learning difficulties briefly discussed below.

Major Patterns of Specific Learning Difficulties Based on How Well Logic and Gestalt Functions are Accessed or Integrated:

Gestalt Dominance in Mental Processing (Attention Deficit Disorder): The most commonly observed specific learning difficulty is Gestalt dominance in processing information or Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.). People with this pattern of learning dysfunction have good access to most Gestalt functions, but only poor access to Logic functions, with Gestalt processing the predominate mode used for performing all tasks. Because of this Gestalt dominance in processing information, the normal balance provided by complementary Logic functions is largely absent.These people, therefore, often display the following symptoms: tendency to be impulsive. little appreciation of the connection between “cause” and “effect”. I want to do “X”, so I do it, never thinking, “What will happen if I do” difficulty budgeting time.Because of this and difficulty concentrating, projects are often left incomplete and organisational skills are poor. difficulty concentrating. “Concentration is merely paying attention over time. If there is no “Sense of Time”, attention cannot be paid over it? difficulty spelling. Generally spelling is phonetic by putting letters together until it “sounds” like the word; difficulty with mathematics; Difficulty remembering times tables and/or under standing mathematical concepts. poor reading comprehension. Reading may be fluent, but there is often poor comprehension of what was read. difficulty assigning meaning to words and symbols. Interpretation of symbols (Gestalt) may be accessible, but there is difficulty assigning meaning to the words/symbols interpreted (Logic); good coordination. Often well coordinated or even gifted athletically. Remember the Gestalt functions control body awareness and orientation in space.It is precisely because of the above symptoms that people displaying Gestalt-dominant processing are found to be “attention deficit”. Attention Deficit Disorder is assessed by having a person perform a series of sequential tasks, any one of which the person can do easily. However, people suffering from A.D.D. are unlikely to complete the series of tasks, not because they can not perform them, but rather, because they lose concentration or are easily distracted.

Logic Dominance in Mental Processing (Dyslexia): That is, they display the following four behavioural symptoms:Much less common than Gestalt dominance is Logic dominance in decision-making processing. People who access their Gestalt functions poorly, but have good access to Logic functions are the true dyslexics” by standard psychological definition.

cannot spell or do so in some phonetic form by putting letters together to approximate the “sound” of the word.

have great difficulty reading. Usually stumble over words, misread words, or just cannot “sound” words out. However, comprehension of what was read is often excellent. display dysrhythmia.

An inability to clap or tap a tune. poor coordination. Are physically uncoordinated or”clumsy”. In addition, these people are usually good at mathematics at least to the level of algebra, display good concentration, and

follow sequential directions well. However, they may have to be taught things that other people learn unconsciously.

Limited Access to both Gestalt and Logic Functions (Severe Problems): The next most common type of learning difficulty, after Attention Deficit Disorder or Gestalt Dominance, is poor or limited access to both Gestalt and Logic functions.This pattern is usually associated with a great deal of confusion in cerebral processing and creates the greatest learning difficulties. If a person has good access to either Gestalt or Logic, but poor access to the opposite side functions, he or she can at least compensate sate with the functions he or she does access well.If there are major deficits in both Gestalt and Logic functions, then the ability of the brain to compensate for these deficits is extremely limited. The following behavioural symptoms result from this pattern of access:

language delay. Language development is often extremely delayed for age. For instance, an eight year old child may only recognise 3 letters and 2 numbers. reading very delayed for age.

Often difficulty with recognising words, or word recognition is a real struggle.

spelling very delayed for age. Often cannot spell words with more than 3 or 4 letters.

difficulty understanding numbers, including basic arithmetic. Often having difficulties with learning to count, concepts of adding and subtraction, knowing the days of the week, etc. no concentration or focus.

Appear “away with the fairies”. person appears confused/lazy or just plain “slow mentally”. Often fairly apathetic and lethargic with no zest for life.We generally see these people as children early on. Because of the extreme nature of their learning dysfunctions, these people have normally been dismal failures in school and have departed the academic scene by their early teenage years.

Poor Integration of Gestalt and Logic Functions: The least common pattern of learning difficulty is among people who have good access to both Gestalt and Logic functions, but can only “integrate” these functions poorly if at all.The lack of integration of Gestalt and Logic functions often limits the use of the functions that they can access giving rise to learning dysfunctions similar to people having poor access to one or the other hemispheres. The most common symptoms are: reading difficulties. Often so stressful to read that it can only be done for a few minutes at a time, or is avoided altogether. spelling is totally phonetic. Words spelled like they “sound”. difficulty with higher mathematics (e.g. algebra) even though arithmetic may have been perfected. For these people, school is often an extremely frustrating experience. They can usually perform all tasks well except those requiring good integrated function. Since integration of Gestalt and Logic functions are required for reading and spelling, but integrated functions are very stressful for these people to perform, these essential academic tasks are likely to be avoided.

The True Nature of Specific Learning Difficulties: Our philosophy regarding Specific Learning Difficulties is that most learning difficulties result from the degree of access each person has to specific brain functions and how well these functions can be integrated. If a person can access all brain functions in both cerebral hemispheres with equal facility and can integrate all these functions, he or she performs well In all areas of learning. However, if for any reason he or she cannot access certain specific brain functions, he or she will have difficulty performing the tasks dependent upon, or involving, those specific brain functions.

Standard psychological testing to evaluate specific learning problems rely on determining which types of cerebral functions and processes can be accessed, and how well these functions are accessed.

Standardised intelligence tests such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale Test are a carefully devised series of tasks which are divided into two groups: Verbal sub-tests and Performance sub-tests. The Verbal sub-tests are tasks which require access to predominantly Logic functions. Some of the Verbal sub-tests require access to only a few Logic functions, while others require access to both Logic and Gestalt functions at the same time, but with the lead functions contributed by the Logic brain. Likewise, some of the Performance sub tests are tasks which require access to only Gestalt functions, while others require integrated functions with a Gestalt “lead”. The score on each sub-test depends largely upon how well a person can access the specific functions required to perform that sub-test. Sub-tests In which a person scores poorly indicate which types of functions are difficult to access. Difficulty in accessing specific functions has been correlated with poor performance in certain academic areas.

An appreciation of some of the behaviours associated with learning difficulties may be useful at this point. How do people’s behaviour reflect their underlying ability to participate in this natural process of learning? In clinical practice we are told about and see the same types of behaviours from people (especially children) who present for treatment of specific learning difficulties.

Again and again we see the same behaviours ticked on the Behavioural Evaluation Form filled out for each client when people have certain learning dysfunctions. Why might this be? Lack of access to specific cerebral functions will almost always have a discernible behavioural corollary.

The nature of the functions accessed, or not accessed determine to a large degree how a person behaves. A child that is Gestalt dominant will often be perceived as “emotionally immature” because emotional maturity is essentially the ability to modulate and control the expression of emotions based on a logical analysis of circumstances. A well-integrated person with good access to all cerebral functions may “feel” angry (largely a Gestalt experience), but make the rational judgment that “now” is not the appropriate time to express that anger.

A Gestalt dominant person, on the other hand, will experience the anger and tend to act on these feelings with little logical consideration of the consequences. It is our philosophy that people’s behaviour reflects the degree of access and integration of their cerebral functions. Poor access to, or integration of, specific brain functions will result in difficulty performing tasks dependent upon these brain functions. Difficulty performing these tasks will almost always generate “stress” when attempting to do these tasks, often resulting in “avoidance behaviours.” The extent of the “avoidance behaviours” usually relates to the degree of “stress” generated when attempting to access and integrate the relevant functions.

What is often not appreciated is that people’s behaviour tells the truth, if you understand what is being said! When a child says, “I hate Reading, Mathematics, English, etc”, what that person is actually saying is, “I cannot access the brain functions I need to do that task easily. The only reason anyone “hates” doing anything, that is enjoyable for most other people, is that he finds that specific task difficult to perform.

If a person can read well and easily, reading isn’t avoided , but rather sought out because there is just so much to learn and enjoy in books. If, on the other hand, reading is a very demanding and stressful task, people soon develop avoidance mechanisms, for instance labelling reading as “boring.” Who wants to do something that is “BORING”

Unfortunately, these avoidance behaviours are often misinterpreted as “just not doing what you are told” or “misbehaviour” plain and simple. The response to these “avoidance behaviours” may be to tell the person to just stop misbehaving and “pick up your game” This only compounds the “stress” of attempting to do these tasks, usually leading to further avoidance behaviours, and exaggerated misbehaviour. Part of what exaggerates the misbehaviour is simply the frustration and anger of NOT being able to perform the assigned task, even when great effort is expended. Imagine how you would feel if you have struggled through your reading, mathematics, English etc. assignments, putting in the best effort you are capable of, only to be told, “Well you’re just going to have to try harder!”

From our experience, many of the people having the greatest difficulty with “learning” are often innately very clever. They just cannot access the specific brain functions they need to perform certain tasks. When you talk with these people and listen to the questions they ask, they are often clearly, intelligent people. If a clearly, intelligent person does not read well or spell well, or has great difficulty understanding and doing even simple mathematics, a reasonable assumption is that person just isn’t “concentrating”, or “paying attention” or “trying hard enough.”.

Surely, if an intelligent person was “concentrating, paying attention, and trying hard enough”, then he or she would be successful at these rather pedestrian tasks, accomplished with ease by even their less clever peers. What is over-looked is that these, intelligent people may indeed be clever and intelligent, but unable to access the relevant brain function, or only able to do so under duress.

Perhaps an analogy here will help demonstrate the above point. If I say to a handy- person, “Do you know how to hammer a nail?”, most would answer,”yes”. To the question “Will you hammer a nail for me?”, they would answer, “Sure, just give me a hammer”. However, if their hands were tied to their legs, they may still answer “yes” to the question, “Do you know how to hammer a nail?”, because they do know how; but, they would be unable to do so when asked.

If you just ignored their lack of access to hand function (because it is tied up) and said “Come on now, hammer that nail, they may become frustrated and angry because they could hammer that nail if only they could access the function of their tied-up hands.

The difference between this analogy and the above lack of access to brain functions is that they would clearly understand their inability to hammer the nail, and they would likely state, “If you’ll just untie my hands, I’ll gladly do it for you”, letting you know why they can’t at this time do what is asked of them, also alleviating their frustration at not being able to do so.

However, with lack of access to specific brain functions, people cannot understand (nor can those around them) why they cannot perform certain tasks dependent upon the specific brain functions not accessed! The individual is unlikely to consciously know why he can’t access these specific brain functions, and just becomes “frustrated”, which often leads to “anger” and that anger often leads to “inappropriate behaviour.”

The program is centred around a powerful brain integration technique initially developed by Richard Utt, Founder and President of the International Institute of Applied Physiology in Tucson Arizona, and Dr. Charles Krebs, co-founder of Melbourne Applied Physiology with Susan McCrossin.

This brain integration technique opens up access to both Gestalt and Logic functions and removes blocks to integrated function. Further research and development of specific correction techniques by co-founders of Melbourne Applied Physiology, Dr. Charles Krebs (a past research scientist and university lecturer in anatomy and physiology) and psychologist Susan McCrossin, now allow the correction of most specific learning difficulties.

The Basic Learning Correction Program requires twelve to fifteen hours of treatment. This includes an initial assessment that serves as a benchmark against which to evaluate future change, and points out the areas needing the most attention. The next several hours are devoted to Brain Integration which lays the foundation for the specific learning corrections that follow. Much like building a house, there is little sense in putting time and effort into creating a functional structure unless it rests on a solid foundation.

The Brain Integration procedure releases stresses in the deep brain centres, including the Limbic System, which control access to and integration of hemisphere functions.

Once the Brain Integration procedures are complete, we then apply specific learning corrections for dysfunctions in reading skills and comprehension, spelling, mathematics, and the whole range of Wechsler Intelligence Scale sub-tests.

When all the functional areas have been addressed, low self-esteem and behavioural problems related to the previous learning difficulties are addressed using effective emotional and memory stress release (defusion) techniques. Just because you now can perform a learning task well does not mean that you will. Previous conditioning and memory of “how it was”, often shut off our will to give it a go. All correction techniques used are non-invasive. The techniques are based on the use of muscle monitoring, acupressure, emotional and memory release, and sound and light techniques, together with other left/right brain integration exercises.

A typical Learning Correction Program may look like –

Initial Consultation (1-1.5 hrs)

discussion of areas of concern

detailed assessment to determine the learning strengths and weaknesses

determination of a treatment plan with an estimate of how many sessions it is likely to take (typically 12x1hr)

referral for additional treatment if considered necessary

Subsequent sessions

correction of deep levels of confusion in the nervous system

establishing a stable foundation of brain integration – even under stress

increase the access to brain areas or functions identified as problems in the initial consultation

2-3 months after the final consultation, to check on progress and correct any further problems that may have arisen.

The basic 12-14 hour program is an estimate based on the median time for treatment, as each person’s program will vary on the basis of their individual needs. The median time is the length of treatment that occurs most often. Some people with only one or two areas of deficit may take only 10 hours to go through the whole program, while others with many areas of deficit may take far longer.

Children with severe learning problems and major deficits in most areas of function indicated by Low Average, Borderline, or Serious Deficit ranking on standardized tests, may require up twenty to thirty hours of treatment or more. Our experience is that even these children improve significantly in function, but that the rate of improvement is slower than for people with less severe deficits.

At the end of the initial Assessment during the first session, you will be advised of the probable length of treatment required in your specific case, along with any additional structural areas you may find benefit in addressing separately.

Further Reading on LEAP Krebs, Dr. Charles, 1998, A Revolutionary Way of Thinking, Hill of Content Publishing Co. Pty Ltd

LEAP is an Applied Physiology (Kinesiology) protocol which activates areas of the brain which are not currently being accessed fully. It uses a bio-feedback mechanism which accurately measures inability for specific parts of the brain to function.

LEAP, in combination with adequate brain nutrition and reduction in brain toxins, allows us to be the best we can be!

The inactivity of these areas causes any combination of learning difficulties:

comprehension problems,

switching of letters (p&d, q&b) maths,

poor visual integration

poor auditory memory

concentration problems (or daydreaming),

many symptoms such as clumsiness and co-ordination difficulties.

Stress & inability to remember under stress

Higher level comprehension and so much more

The areas of dysfunction in the brain include the frontal lobes (higher thinking functions), logic brain (left side) and gestalt brain – your creative/emotional (right side), along with too much information in the form of fear patterns being stored in the amygdala, causing day to day disruption of brain function.

LEAP: Who Can Benefit?

Children and adults with learning problems will often be on a Stress Avoidance Cycle, which means the brain will switch off rather than allow the stress of not being able to handle a problem.

Any person who wishes to utilise their brain at the optimum level will benefit by LEAP.

LEAP opens up the pathways in the brain and allows free thinking within any subject, ie, maths/English, and reduces stress associated with fatigue, fluoro lights, computer radiation, mobile phone stress and other common allergens (such as sugars, wheat, candida)

Students of all ages

People requiring brain power at work

Kids with behaviour issues, ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aspergers

Post-stroke, post operation poor memory

Kids who have had glue ear, birthing problems, vaccine side-effects, stress (such as having siblings!)

Dr Charles Krebs, author of ‘Revolutionary Way of Thinking’ (highly recommended for anyone interested in understanding brain function and integration or the fundamentals of LEAP) is a scientist who had an accident in the 1980’s, which left part of his brain permanently damaged. When he found Kinesiology, it ultimately changed his life…allowing access to pathways which had ‘shut down’ since his accident.

Dr Krebs not only became a Kinesiologist, but took the protocols one step further and has developed and researched LEAP techniques on over 8000 people.

Dr Krebs currently works in research facilities at Harvard, Germany, Switzerland & London.

LEAP: Gives Results!!

LEAP is currently having between 80-98% success rate. Medically, nothing has been found to change the physiology of the brain (in other words, nothing increases brain function), whereas LEAP does!

It is a protocol which requires a number of treatments (10-20) and these treatments can be spaced to suit any budget or timeframe. Children often need a ‘top-up’ every few years when major hormonal or growth spurts take place. If children or adults are incredibly neurologically disturbed, it may take much longer! This doesn’t mean that improvements won’t be seen earlier on, it’s about working with the person’s brain & body, finding the deficits and correcting them one by one (in the most neurologically correct order!!)

LEAP truly is revolutionary and should be considered with any learning difficulties, ADD, ADHD and dyslexia.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR DYSLEXIA AND LEARNING DISABILITIES

Constantly bumping into things or dropping things.

Difficulty in following motion or moving things (balls, people, traffic).

Difficulty in following sequential instructions or events.

Difficulty in understanding words in normal conversation.

Difficulty with reading, writing and mathematics.

Doing opposite of what was told.

Dysequilibrium (balance dysfunction).

Feelings of inferiority, stupidity, clumsiness.

Get drowsy or tend to fall asleep while driving on a highway or open road.

Gets lost easily or all the time.

Inability to concentrate, even when involved in a particular activity, such as a game.

The Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program, or LEAP®, has been developed since 1985 inconjunction with clinical psychologists, speech pathologists, neurologists and other health professionals, as a very effective program for the correction of most learning difficulties. LEAP® is based on a new model of learning integrating recent concepts in neurophysiology of the brain and uses highly specific acupressure formatting to address stress within specific brain structures. The application of specific non-invasive acupressure and other energetic techniques can then resolve these stresses resulting in a return to normal function.

In the LEAP® model of learning Gestalt and Logic functions are not simply localised in the right or left cerebral hemisphere as in the popular Right Brain/Left Brain model of learning. But rather, each type of conscious brain function or process appears to have a cerebral “lead” function that is either predominantly Gestalt (Visuo-spatial, Global) or Logic (Linear, Sequential) in nature. These cortical “lead” functions provide a “point of entry” into a widely distributed system comprising many subconscious cortical sub-modules in both hemispheres and many subconscious subcortical modules throughout the limbic system and brainstem.

While the Gestalt and Logic “lead” functions are conscious, these functions are dependent upon many levels of subconscious sensory processing at many levels within the nervous system. While this processing through multiplexing and parallel processing at many different levels is highly efficient, it means that brain processing is “time bound”. Since many components of any mental function are performed in many different parts of the brain, and often at different speeds, coherent output in the form of “thinking” requires integration and synchronisation of all of these separate processes.

Loss of integrated brain function, termed loss of Brain Integration in LEAP®, thus results in the loss of a specific mental capacity, the ability to perform a specific type of mental task. When these specific mental capacities are required for academic performance, their loss can result in Specifi Learning Disabilities.

Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) arise in this model by either lack of access to specific subconscious processing modules, either cortical or subcortical, or the de-synchronisation of neural flows in the integrative pathways linking processing modules. Thus to resolve SLDs, you need only “open up” access to the “blocked” processing modules or re-synchronise the timing of information flow between them to re-instate integrated brain function.

The LEAP® program provides an integrated acupressure protocol using direct muscle biofeedback (kinesiology) as a tool to identify “stress” within specific brain nuclei and areas that have “blocked” integrated function. The application of the LEAP® acupressure protocol using acupressure and other energetic based techniques to re-synchronise brain function resolves learning and memory problems in a high percent of cases.

HISTORY OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES.

Difficulties with learning academic tasks such as reading, spelling and mathematics have been recognised for over a century, with Kussmaul in 1877 ascribed as the first person to specifically describe an inability to read, that persisted in the presence of intact sight and speech, as word blindness.1 The word dyslexia was coined by Berlin in 1887.2 Within a decade a Glasgow eye surgeon James Hinschelwood (1895) and a Seaford General Practitioner Pringle Morgan (1896) observed students who were incapable of learning to read and hypothesised that this was based on a failure of development of the relevant brain areas which were believed to be absent or abnormal.

This model was based on the assumption that developmental dyslexia (congenital dyslexia) was similar in form to acquired dyslexia, which is dyslexia due to brain damage after a person has already learned to read. Deficits in other types of learning, such as mathematics, would also result from some other underlying brain damage or abnormality.3

Work in the early part of the twentieth century, particularly by Samuel T. Orton in the 1920s and 1930s suggested that learning difficulties such as dyslexia were not based on anatomical absence or abnormality, but rather it was delay in the development of various areas that caused these dysfunctions. This belief was largely ignored until the 1960s when it was revived by a growing interest in neuropsychology. However, more recent developments in neuropsychology and neurophysiology support the hypothesis that dysfunctions within the brain, both anatomical and developmental, may be causal in many learning problems.4

It was not until 1963, in an address given by Samuel Kirk, who argued for better descriptions of children’s school problems that the term “learning disabilities” originated. Since that time there’s been a proliferation of labels that attempt to dissociate the learning disabled from the retarded and brain damaged.

Definitions

In the context of this synopsis, Specific Learning Disorders or Disabilities(SLDs) relates to problems with physical co-ordination and acquiring the academic skills of reading, writing, spelling and mathematics including both Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) with or without hyperactivity. ADD with hyperactivity is now commonly called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or hyperkinetic disorder in Europe. Historically, Dyslexia has been widely defined in terms of deficits in the areas of reading, spelling and language. However, more recent conceptualisations have included a definition that also encompasses a wide range of problems, including clumsiness and difficulty with rote learning.5 Fawcett and Nicolson have also challenged the prevailing hypothesis that Dyslexia is merely a language based problem, suggesting that it might be a more generalised deficit in the acquisition of skills.6

The term Dyslexia is not defined in the DSM IV (1994) although it is still commonly used in literature discussing various learning difficulties. The term Learning Disorders (DSM IV) currently encompasses various types of learning difficulties including dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Learning Disorders are defined in the DSM IV as being essentially a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development. The performance of these individuals on standardised tests for reading, mathematics, or written expression is substantially below, more than 2 standard deviations (SDs), same age peers even though their IQ scores are average or above average.7

Incidence

Frequently, children diagnosed as learning disabled are also inattentive and deficient in linguistic skills, most often in reading.8 Rutter and Yule examined a large population of children from a number of different studies and found 3.5% of Isle of Wight 10-year-olds, 4.5% of 14-year-olds and over 6% of London 10-year-olds showed reading difficulties.9 Gaddes looked at the proportion of children with learning disorders in various studies in both North America and Europe and found that the need for special training for learning disorders ranged between 10-15% of the school age population.10 However, estimates of the prevalence of learning disorders for broad age ranges is problematic because a learning disability is an emergent problem that is often not evident until later years in schooling. Using the criteria of defining learning disorders as being two years behind on standardised tests, less than 1% of 6-year-olds are disabled, 2% of 7-year-olds and so on until at age 19, 25% would be classified as learning disabled. So these children fall progressively behind as they mature and the complexity of work increases.11 In an address given by the Australian Federal Schools Minister, Dr David Kemp, in October 1996, Kemp stated that a study of 28,000 students in four surveys in Australia found 30% of year 9 students lacked basic literacy skills. This high incidence of learning disorders in school children indicates a need for effective treatment. Studies in other countries, both English, French and German support these figures, so specific learning difficulties, which cover all types of learning disabilities from dyslexia, reading problems, ADD to ADHD, probably represent greater than 15% of school-aged children, and may be as high as one third of all school-aged children.

Causes

Currently hypotheses concerning learning disorders suggest that they are primarily the result of one or more of five major factors;

While none of these theories is unequivocally supported by current data, all of these factors may contribute in varying degrees to learning disabilities.12

Brain damage and overt brain dysfunction would appear to account for a relatively small percentage of children with learning disorders. The great majority of other children with learning disorders do not typically show many of the neurological symptoms associated with brain damage in adults. For instance, EEG and CT studies have not shown structural damage and abnormal EEGs correlated with known brain damage are not consistently observed in children with learning disorders.13 Rather than direct brain damage, there is evidence that abnormal physiological or biochemical processes may be responsible for malfunction in some part of the cerebral cortex.

Electrophysiological recording studies have associated specific high frequency EEG and AEP (averaged evoked potentials) abnormalities with various types of learning disorders.14 Recent studies with SSVEP (Steady state visual evoked potential) have shown that children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder demonstrate similar abnormal SSVEP patterns when compared to normal subjects while performing the same cognitive task.15 The brain dysfunction hypothesis suggests that the dysfunction may be a consequence of defective arousal mechanisms resulting in some form of inadequate cerebral activation.16

This is supported by studies of children with learning disorders that show they have difficulty on continuous performance tests requiring attention and low distractibility; had slower reaction times to stimuli, and increased errors due to impulsivity on tests of visual searching.17 Douglas proposed that the deficits on these tasks resulted from inadequate cerebral activation. Learning disorders of some types at least, do improve with drugs like amphetamines that cause cerebral activation via increasing subcortical arousal. In fact this is the basis of treating hyperactive children with Ritalin.18

An alternative model of learning disorders is based on recent neurophysiological findings that suggest it is the timing and synchronisation of neural activity in separate brain areas that creates high order cognitive functions. Any loss or malfunction of the timing mechanism may cause disintegration of neural activity and hence dysfunction in cognitive tasks.19 Clearly, brain dysfunction due to inadequate cerebral activation may indeed lead to disruption of the timing and synchronisation of neural flows, and thus these two hypotheses may just be different aspects of the same process.

This model supports the approach in the Learning Enhancement Advanced Program (LEAP®) that Dr. Krebs developed in the late 1980s early 1990s.20 In the LEAP® Model, Specific Learning Disorders are based on the disruption or loss of timing and synchronisation between the neural activity in the diverse brain regions, both cortical and subcortical, that must be synchronised in order for successful integration to produce normal cognitive activity. Learning disorders would arise in this model from a lack of integration of functions that occur simultaneously in separate brain regions.

If the brain does integrate separate processes into meaningful combinations we call ‘thought’ or cognitive ability, then the main risk is mis-timing or loss of synchronisation between these processes. To quote Damasio “any malfunction of the timing mechanism would be likely to create spurious integration or disintegration”.21 For synchronous firing of neurons in many separate brain areas to create cognitive functions would require maintenance of focused activity at these different sites long enough for meaningful integration of disparate information and decisions to be made.

THE LEAP® MODEL OF LEARNING:

From a review of the major brain structures and the workings of learning and memory in the neurological literature, it is clear that both memory and learning do not involve a single, global hierarchical system in the brain. But rather, learning involves interplay between many inter-linked sub-systems or modules.22 Also, the timing and synchronisation of information flow between these sub-systems and modules appears to be critical to the success of learning and coherent cognitive function.

However, the sub-systems or modules underlying both learning and memory are both conscious and subconscious with most of the early leveling processing being totally subconscious, and only the highest levels of neural processing reaching consciousness. Yet, it is indeed these conscious modules that initiate and direct the processing to be done by the subconscious modules, as both learning and memory require “conscious” effort to occur. This means that the memory and learning processes can be disrupted at both the conscious and subconscious levels, depending upon which neural substrates or integrative pathways are disrupted.

Sensory processingof all types is initially a relatively linear chain of neural impulses originating from a generator potential of the sensory receptor, and following a chain of neurons into the Central Nervous System (CNS) and brain. However, this initially linear stream of nerve impulses, the data of the CNS, rapidly becomes divergent and multiplexed at higher levels of cortical processing.

Conscious perception only arises at the highest levels of these multiplexed data flows as they are reintegrated back into unified conscious perception by the cortical columns directing all conscious brain activity. Thinking and other cognitive abilities rely upon all of the proceeding levels of subconscious sensory processing, which are predominately bilateral initially, but which become progressively asymmetrical and lateralised with increasing levels of conscious awareness. Sensory information is processed initially as neural flows of increasing complexity that generate preverbal images and symbols, but becomes increasingly defined by language in higher level cognitive processes. And language by its very nature is based upon abstract representations of external reality (called words), that follow linear rules (grammar), and word order linked to meaning (syntax). Hence it is predominately sequential and linear in form, which permits analytical evaluation of the thoughts generated following rational rules of Logic. From the perspective of Logic, the world is interpreted as parts that can be constructed into a whole via deductive reasoning.

Sensory and other mental data not suitable for language-based rational processing is processed via visuo-spatial image and symbols that permit global, holistic comprehension of the whole and is inherently non-rational.23 This global, simultaneous, non-rational visuo-spatial processing has been termed Gestalt (German for pattern or form), with the meaning of the whole extracted via inductive reasoning. From the Gestalt perspective, the world is seen as a “whole” with intuitive understanding of the properties of the whole. There is no rational analysis of “Why?”, it just “Is”.

In the LEAP® Model of Learning, it is recognized that most of the lower level linear sensory processing occurs below conscious perception, that is either subcortical, being processed in the brainstem or other brain nuclei like the hypothalamus, thalamus, basal ganglia, etc., or is palaeocortical and limbic. Even the basal levels of cortical processing are largely bilateral and subconscious, and thus occur outside of conscious perception. All higher level cortical processing, which may become conscious, is thus reliant upon maintenance of integrated function and neural flows at these subconscious levels.

However, the more overtly cognitive components of learning rapidly become lateralised with processing dominated by activation of cortical columns, the functional units of the neocortex, in one hemisphere of the brain or the other. In right-handed people, Logic processing typically activates cortical columns in the left hemisphere, that then process the data in a linear analytical way, while activation of cortical columns in the right hemisphere process data in a Gestalt, visuo-spatial way.

Thus, at the highest levels of conscious neural processing underlying cognition and thought, whether that “thought” be verbally based language of Logic, or global intuitively based “knowing” of Gestalt, the neural processing is highly lateralised and is predominately processed in the right or left hemisphere.

The neural substrates for all “conscious” functions therefore are cortical columns of the neocortex (Fig. 1). Conscious activation of a cortical column acts to initiate a cascade of neural flows that rapidly spread to other cortical areas both conscious and subconscious in both hemispheres, and also into many subcortical structures as well. These consciously activated cortical columns initiate either Gestalt or Logic functions depending in which hemisphere they are located.

In LEAP® we term cortical columns activating Logic functions, Logic “lead” functions, and those activating Gestalt functions, Gestalt “lead” functions. These “lead” functions provide points of entry into an inter-linked set of cortical and subcortical modules that then perform our mental functions.

Figure 1. Cortical Columns. Vertical slabs of cortex consisting of all six distinct cell layers, called cortical columns, are the functional units of the cerebral cortex. Some of the cells like the large pyramidal cells have dendrites that extend through almost all layers and axons that exit the gray matter to become part of the white matter tracts carrying information to other parts of the brain and body. There are also innumerable interneurons connecting the cells within each cell layer and between the layers.

Indeed, it was a misunderstanding about the nature of these “lead” functions from which the popular “Right Brain – Left Brain” model of learning and brain function arose. Because damage to specific cortical columns caused loss of specific conscious functions, e.g. the ability to form an image, or figure out certain types of problems or solve certain types of puzzles, it was assumed that the damaged area actually did that specific function. In reality, all that cortical column did was provide a point of entry into these inter-linked sets of cortical and subcortical modules that actually performed the function lost because of the damage to the cortical “lead” function.

An analogy would be damage to the “K” key on your keyboard. Your consciousness is still intact and able to initiate “K” questions, and your computer system is still able to process and answer “K” questions, but the interface to initiate “K” processing in the computer has been damaged. Like wise, if a Gestalt “lead” function is damaged, the process initiated by this “lead” function no longer activates the inter-linked cortical and subcortical functions that are required for this process to occur. Thus, while damage to the area initiating a function, “blocks” the rest of the processing needed to perform the function, the area initiating function never actually ever “did” the function in the first place. To continue this analogy, in most cases it is not overt “damage” to the cortical “lead” function or subcortical brain areas that prevents effective thinking, but rather “blocked” access to these brain areas due to some stressor that is the problem. Thus, much in the same way a “sticky” key blocks fluent typing, “blocked access” to specific brain areas blocks effective thinking and problem-solving.

Synopsis of the LEAP® Model of Learning:

In summary, the LEAP® Model of Learning is based on the following suppositions about the nature and location of neural processing underlying learning and memory:

• Each processing centre, at each successive level within the spinal cord, brainstem, diencephalon, basal forebrain and cortex elaborates the sensory data, defining some aspect more than another, or adds additional types of information needed to define the sensory data further at the next level of processing. All processing below the neocortex is subconscious.

• At the higher cortical levels, input from many lower levels both cortical and subcortical is integrated to form a conscious perception of the initial sensory experience.

• These higher cortical levels not only integrate processing of the “raw” sensory data, but also include integration of input from memory areas about past experiences with similar sensory stimuli.

• At the highest cortical levels the conscious perceptions formed at lower cortical levels are further processed asymmetrically in either Gestalt or Logic cortical columns, and hence perceived as a visuos-patial pattern or a Gestalt, or abstractly as a verbal word based language or an abstract symbol based mathematical language.

• The very highest levels of conscious processing that underlie our thinking about conscious perceptions, while dependent upon input from all areas of the brain, are generally frontal lobe and particularly involve working memory areas in the Dorsolateral Frontal Cortex.

• A whole set of basal brainstem mechanisms maintain the organism in a state of homeostasis, such that higher level conscious sensory processing can proceed effectively:

These include the Reticular Activating System, the Periventricular Survival System, the Vestibular System and the Sensory-Motor System. Imbalances within or between these systems may disrupt on-going sensory processing and integration at this and higher levels. Processing at this level is totally subconscious.

• The initial “raw” data stream is “sampled” by the Amygdala and other survival centres in the brainstem, and coloured by the survival emotions paired or associated with the sensory stimuli being analyzed, including the physiological responses to these emotions, and is the basis of Conditioned Learning. These primary survival emotions may disrupt on-going sensory processing and integration at this and higher levels. Processing at this level is subconscious.

• When survival emotions of the Fight or Flight response are activated above some “threshold” value, the amygdala and other brainstem structures such as the Periaqueductal Grey Matter of the midbrain inhibit frontal cortical processing, interfering with reasoning and problem-solving. The cause of this loss of higher level conscious cortical processing is a direct consequence of activation of the subconscious primary survival emotions of the Limbic System and Brainstem.

• Secondary processing of the sensory stimuli in the Brainstem, Limbic System and lower cortical levels generates a series of control functions defining the nature of the sensory data stream (e.g. control of pupils in vision) and second-order integration of this sensory data (e.g. movement, shape and location of object in space). Processing at this level is subconscious.

• Further processing in the palaecortical components of the Limbic System (e.g. hippocampus, cingulate, subcallosal and orbitofrontal cortices) generates secondary emotions relative to the sensory data stream and primary emotions already supplied by the amygdala and other brainstem areas via sampling memory of related events. These secondary limbic emotions may disrupt on-going sensory processing and integration at this and higher levels. Processing at this level is largely subconscious.

• Initial cortical processing is predominately bilateral and subconscious, and is dependent upon earlier processing at brainstem and subcortical levels. Emotions, either primary or secondary, may disrupt on-going sensory processing and integration at this and higher levels.

• At some level of cortical processing the sensory data stream emerges into a conscious perception, and is dependent upon earlier processing at brainstem, subcortical, and earlier cortical levels. Emotions, either primary or secondary, may disrupt on-going integration at this and higher levels

• At the highest levels of cortical processing, the processing is largely done in one hemisphere or the other and perceived consciously as a logical, rational thought or a visuospatial Gestalt, and is dependent upon earlier processing at brainstem, subcortical and cortical levels. Emotions, either primary or secondary, may disrupt on-going integration at this level, and any “thinking” dependent upon this level of processing.

• Thinking about the fully processed and integrated sensory experience in the frontal lobes, based upon remembered sensory experiences relevant to the current experience may lead to decisions, which will be represented neurologically by activation of either Logic or Gestalt “lead” functions or both.

• These “lead” functions will then initiate a cascade of neurological flow, which is initially frontal cortical, but rapidly flows into other cortical areas and subcortical structures like the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum, which in turn feedback to the cortex and each other. Emotions, either primary or secondary, may disrupt on-going processing and integration at any level of this process, and thus overtly affect the final outcome of the cognitive functions taking place.

• Coherent neurological processingat any stage of the above process is dependent upon both uninterrupted flows along integrative pathways and within integrative processing centres. Disruption or de-synchronisation of the timing of these integrative neural flows or disruption or de-synchronisation of processing in any of the integrative centres may result in loss of cognitive function.

• Maintaining integration along all integrative pathways and within all integrative centres produces optimum function, a state called Brain Integration in LEAP.

• Loss of integrated brain function is the principal cause of dysfunction in both mental and physical performance, called Loss of Brain Integration in LEAP.

• The primary mechanism causing Loss of Brain Integrationis de-synchronisation and loss of timing of neural flows along integrative pathways and within integrative centres by inhibition or excitation of these pathways and centres by neural flows originating from brainstem and limbic survival related emotions.

• On-going Loss of Brain Integrationis often generated by early childhood trauma that creates long-term disruption of Brain Integration as a mechanism of coping.

o Structural defects or abnormalities can be of developmental origin, e.g. neuronal migration problems, or result from toxin exposure at specific critical periods of development, e.g. fetal alcohol syndrome. Many cognitive defects have been shown to correlate with abnormalities in brain structure.24

o Organic Brain Damagemay result from a head injury, and this damage often results in sclerosis that disrupts neural flows underlying Brain Integration (e.g. hippocampal sclerosis and subsequent epilepsy are often associated with learning disorders).

o Genetic Factors affecting Brain Integrationare often genes that code for specific alleles for specific enzymes involved in maintaining normal levels of neurotransmitters or receptors in brain circuits.25 Deficiencies in either neurotransmitters or receptors will compromise Brain Integration, and have behavioural consequences. This is both the basis of much ADHD behaviour and the justification for drug use to ameliorate these behaviours.26

Other genes may code for alleles that affect fatty acid metabolism and utilisation, especially in maintaining neuronal membrane stability and function. This affects predominately physical co-ordination and reading.27

o Diet and nutritional deficienciesmay also compromise brain function and result in loss of Brain Integration. Diets rich in fast or junk foods often create marginal nutritional deficiencies that may disrupt brain function, and often contain various preservatives and additives, like the azo-food dye tartrazine, that may cause a total loss of brain integration in sensitive individuals28.

Indeed, the misbehaviour and academic performance of children and young adults have been shown to improve significantly with diet change or nutritional supplementation29, and several recent books have discussed this aspect of behaviour and learning problems30.

o Environmental factors such as electromagnetic fields emitted from man-made electronic equipment and Geopathic stress from distortions in the earth’s electromagnetic fields may affect the brain integration of sensitive individuals and result in learning problems. 31

Loss of Brain Integration and Compensation

When Brain Integration is lost via disruption of the most efficient neural pathways and/or centres, either by organic damage or by functional inhibition of cortical or subcortical functions due to outputs from survival centres in the brain, specific conscious functions dependent upon this integration is also disrupted. The overt loss of conscious function is, however, often far less than the degree of interference with underlying functions might suggest because the brain is a master at compensation and will automatically compensate for these disrupted flows by using other areas of the brain, both conscious and subconscious to produce the most efficient processing possible.

Thus, even children with considerable organic brain damage will often establish compensatory neurological patterns of activity to produce varying levels of function in spite of massive disruption of neural pathways underlying normal function, e.g. children with cerebral palsy may learn to walk and talk. It is indeed this tremendous compensatory capacity of the brain that allows even highly disintegrated brains to produce some degree of function, however, the level of dysfunction controls the degree of compensation. Thus, the greater the degree of dysfunction present, the lesscompensation that is possible.

If the disruption of integrated function is at the more basal levels of integration, the ability to compensate for the resulting dysfunction is much more limited than if the loss of integration is at a higher level of processing because all higher levels of processing are dependent upon the quality of the data integrated at earlier levels of processing. For instance, while damage to an early component of vision, say the retina or optic nerve totally disrupts sight, damage and hence loss of integration in the V3 area of the occipital cortex may leave the image fully intact, but disrupt only colour vision.

When the highest levels of cortical integration are disrupted directly or lower level cortical or subcortical functions underlying these higher cortical functions are disrupted, we may lose the capacity to “think” in certain ways. For instance, we may maintain Gestalt creative abilities (e.g. be good at art and design), but lose the ability to perform even simple mathematics because of the loss of the ability to abstract (e.g. are hopeless at maths). Specific Learning Disorders result from the loss of integration in of higher-level cortical functions or lower-level subconscious cortical or subcortical functions supporting these higher-level functions directly activated by consciousness.

Children and adults suffering Specific Learning Disorders usually know what they need to do, often even how to do it (e.g. I want to spell this word, so I need to sequence the letters and remember this sequence). But they just cannot activate the necessary subcortical and cortical processing to do what they know how and want to do consciously because of loss of integration at some level of neural processing required to do this function. When this loss of Brain Integration affects their ability to read, spell, write or do mathematics, it results in SLDs. However, they will still attempt to perform these functions, but in some compensated way. For instance, a child that cannot spell words correctly (that is, visually in English), still attempts to spell words, but using phonetics to compensate for the “mind’s eye” image he/she cannot create.

Because the level at which the integration is disrupted is unknown to the consciousness and compensation is largely subconscious and automatic, a person with Specific Learning Disorders is only aware that some function is difficult or not possible to perform, but not why this is so. Most often Brain Integration is lost in subconscious functions that were never accessible to our consciousness in the first place.

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“During adolescence the brain’s ability to change is especially pronounced—and that can be a double-edged sword. Jay N. Giedd, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health who specializes in brain imaging, points out that the brain’s plasticity allows adolescents to learn and adapt, which paves the way for independence. But it also poses dangers: different rates of development can lead to poor decision making, risk taking—and, in some cases, diagnosable disorders.

Across cultures and millennia, the teen years have been noted as a time of dramatic changes in body and behaviour. During this time most people successfully navigate the transition from depending upon family to becoming a self-sufficient adult member of the society. However, adolescence is also a time of increased conflicts with parents, mood volatility, risky behaviour and, for some, the emergence of psychopathology.

The physical changes associated with puberty are conspicuous and well described. The brain’s transformation is every bit as dramatic but, to the unaided eye, is visible only in terms of new and different behaviour. The teen brain is not broken or defective. Rather, it is wonderfully optimised to promote our success as a species.

Beginning in childhood and continuing through adolescence, dynamic processes drive brain development, creating the flexibility that allows the brain to refine itself, specialize and sharpen its functions for the specific demands of its environment. Maturing connections pave the way for increased communication among brain regions, enabling greater integration and complexity of thought. When what we call adolescence arrives, a changing balance between brain systems involved in emotion and regulating emotion spawns increased novelty seeking, risk taking and a shift toward peer-based interactions.

These behaviours, found in all social mammals, encourage separating from the comfort and safety of our families to explore new environments and seek unrelated mates.1 However, these potentially adaptive behaviours also pose substantial dangers, especially when mixed with modern temptations and easy access to potent substances of abuse, firearms and high-speed motor vehicles.

In many ways adolescence is the healthiest time of life. The immune system, resistance to cancer, tolerance for heat and cold and several other variables are at their peak. Despite physical strengths, however, illness and mortality increase 200 percent to 300 percent. As of 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available, motor vehicle accidents, the No. 1 cause, accounted for about half of deaths. Nos. 2 and 3 were homicide and suicide.2 Understanding this healthy-body, risk-taking-brain paradox will require greater insight into how the brain changes during this period of life. Such enhanced understanding may help to guide interventions when illnesses emerge or to inform parenting or educational approaches to encourage healthy development.

Adolescent Neurobiology: Three Themes

The brain, the most protected organ of the body, has been particularly opaque to investigation of what occurs during adolescence. But now the picture emerging from the science of adolescent neurobiology highlights both the brain’s capacity to handle increasing cognitive complexity and an enormous potential for plasticity—the brain’s ongoing ability to change. The advent of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which combines a powerful magnet, radio waves, and sophisticated computer technology to provide exquisitely accurate pictures of brain anatomy and physiology, has opened an unprecedented window into the biology of the brain, including how its tissues function and how particular mental or physical activities change blood flow. Because the technique does not use ionizing radiation, it is well suited for pediatric studies and has launched a new era of neuroscience. Three themes emerge from neuroimaging research in adolescents:

Brain cells, their connections and receptors for chemical messengers called neurotransmitters peak during childhood, then decline in adolescence.

Connectivity among brain regions increases.

The balance among frontal (executive-control) and limbic (emotional) systems changes.

These themes appear again and again in our studies of the biological underpinnings for cognitive and behavioral changes in teenagers.

Theme 1: Childhood Peaks Followed by Adolescent Declines in Cells, Connections and Receptors

The brain’s 100 billion neurons and quadrillion synapses create a multitude of potential connection patterns. As teens interact with the unique challenges of their environment, these connections form and re-form, giving rise to specific behaviors—with positive or negative outcomes. This plasticity is the essence of adolescent neurobiology and underlies both the enormous learning potential and the vulnerability of the teen years.

Neuroimaging reveals that gray matter volumes—which reflect the size and number of branches of brain cells—increase during childhood, peak at different times depending on the location in the brain, decline through adolescence, level off during adulthood and then decline somewhat further in senescence. This pattern of childhood peaks followed by adolescent declines occurs not only in gray matter volumes but also in the number of synapses and the densities of neurotransmitter receptors.3 This one-two punch—overproduction followed by competitive elimination—drives complexity not only in brain development but also across myriad natural systems.

Theme 2: Increased Connectivity

Many cognitive advances during adolescence stem from faster communication in brain circuitry and increased integration of brain activity. To use a language metaphor, brain maturation is not so much a matter of adding new letters as it is one of combining existing letters into words, words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs.

“Connectivity” characterizes several neuroscience concepts. In anatomic studies connectivity can mean a physical link between areas of the brain that share common developmental trajectories. In studies of brain function, connectivity describes the relationship between different parts of the brain that activate together during a task. In genetic studies it refers to different regions that are influenced by the same genetic or environmental factors. All of these types of connectivity increase during adolescence.

In structural magnetic resonance imaging studies of brain anatomy, connectivity, as indicated by the volume of white matter—bundles of nerve cells’ axons, which link various regions or areas of the brain—increases throughout childhood and adolescence and continues to grow until women reach their 40s and men their 30s. The foundation of this increase in wiring is myelination, the formation of a fatty sheath of electrical insulation around axons, which speeds conduction of nerve impulses. The increase is not subtle—myelinated axons transmit impulses up to 100 times faster than unmyelinated axons. Myelination also accelerates the brain’s information processing via a decrease in the recovery time between firings. That allows up to a 30-fold increase in the frequency with which a given neuron can transmit information. This combination—the increase in speed and the decrease in recovery time—is roughly equivalent to a 3,000-fold increase in computer bandwidth.

However, recent investigations into white matter are revealing a much more nuanced role for myelin than a simple “pedal to the metal” increase in transmission speed. Neurons integrate information from other neurons by summing excitatory and inhibitory input. If excitatory input exceeds a certain threshold, the receiving neuron fires and initiates a series of molecular changes that strengthens the synapses, or connections, from the input neurons. Donald Hebb famously described this process in 1940 as “cells that fire together wire together.” It forms the basis for learning. In order for input from nearby and more distant neurons to arrive simultaneously, the transmission must be exquisitely timed. Myelin is intimately involved in the fine-tuning of this timing, which encodes the basis for thought, consciousness and meaning in the brain. The dynamic activity of myelination during adolescence reflects how much new wiring is occurring.

On the flip side, recent research reveals that myelination also helps close the windows of plasticity by inhibiting axon sprouting and the creation of new synapses.4 Thus, as myelination proceeds, circuitry that is used the most becomes faster, but at the cost of decreased plasticity.

Advances in imaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetization transfer (MT) imaging have helped spark interest in these processes by allowing researchers to characterize the direction of axons and the microstructure of white matter. These new techniques further confirm an increase in white matter organization during adolescence, which correlates in specific brain regions with improvements in language,5 reading,6 ability to inhibit a response7 and memory.5

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies also consistently demonstrate increasing and more efficient communication among brain regions during child and adolescent development. We can measure this communication by comparing regions’ activation during a task. In studies assessing memory8 and resistance to peer pressure,9 the efficiency of communication in the relevant circuitry was a better predictor of how teens performed than was a measurement of metabolic activity in the regions involved.

These lines of investigation, along with EEG studies indicating increased linking of electrical activity in different brain regions,converge to establish a fundamental maturation pattern in the brain: an increase in cognitive activity that relies on tying together and integrating information from multiple sources. These changes allow for greater complexity and depth of thought.

Theme 3: Changing Frontal/Limbic Balance

The relationship between earlier-maturing limbic system networks, which are the seat of emotion, and later-maturing frontal lobe networks, which help regulate emotion, is dynamic. Appreciating the interplay between limbic and cognitive systems is imperative for understanding decision making during adolescence. Psychological tests are usually conducted under conditions of “cold cognition”—hypothetical, low-emotion situations. However, real-world decision making often occurs under conditions of “hot cognition”—high arousal, with peer pressure and real consequences. Neuroimaging investigations continue to discern the different biological circuitry involved in hot and cold cognition and are beginning to map how the parts of the brain involved in decision making mature.

Frontal lobe circuitry mediates “executive functioning,” a term encompassing a broad array of abilities, including attention, response inhibition, regulation of emotion, organization and long-range planning. Structural MRI studies of cortical thickness indicate that areas involved in high-level integration of input from disparate parts of the brain mature particularly late and do not reach adult levels until the mid 20s

Across a wide variety of tasks, fMRI studies consistently show an increasing proportion of frontal versus striatal or limbic activity as we progress from childhood to adulthood. For example, among 37 study participants aged 7–29, the response to rewards in the nucleus accumbens (related to pleasure seeking) of adolescents was equivalent to that in adults, but activity in the adolescent orbitofrontal cortex (involved in motivation) was similar to that in children.11 The changing balance between frontal and limbic systems helps us understand many of the cognitive and behavioral changes of adolescence.

Normal Changes versus Pathology

One of the greatest challenges for parents and others who work with teens is to distinguish sometimes exasperating behavior from genuine pathology. Against the backdrop of healthy adolescence, which includes a wide range of mood fluctuations and occasional poor judgment, is the reality that many types of pathology emerge during adolescence, including anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, psychosis, and substance abuse. The relationship between normal neurobiological variations and the onset of psychopathology is complicated, but one underlying theme may be that “moving parts get broken.” In other words, development may go awry, predisposing adolescents to disorders. Although neuroimaging is beginning to establish correlations between brain structure or function and behavior, a link between typical behavioral variations and psychopathology has not been firmly established. For example, the neural circuitry underlying teen moodiness may not be the same circuitry involved in depression or bipolar disorder. A greater understanding of the relationship between specific adolescent brain changes and their specific cognitive, behavioral and emotional consequences may provide insight into prevention or treatment.

In the meantime, late maturation of the prefrontal cortex, which is essential in judgment, decision making and impulse control, has prominently entered discourse affecting the social, legislative, judicial, parenting and educational realms. Despite the temptation to trade the complexity and ambiguity of human behavior for the clarity and aesthetic beauty of colorful brain images, we must be careful not to over-interpret the neuroimaging findings as they relate to public policy. Age-of-consent questions are particularly enmeshed in political and social contexts. For example, currently in the United States a person must be at least 15 to 17 years old (depending on the state) to drive, at least 18 to vote, buy cigarettes, or be in the military, and at least 21 to drink alcohol. The minimum age for holding political office varies as well: some municipalities allow mayors as young as 16, and the minimum age for governors ranges from 18 to 30. (On the national level, 25 is the minimum age to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and 35 to be a senator or the president.) The age to consent to sexual relations varies worldwide from puberty (with no specific age attached) to age 18. In most laws the age at which a female can consent to sexual relations is lower than the age for a male. In the United States the legal age to consent to sexual intercourse varies by state from 14 to 17 for females and from 15 to 18 for males. Clearly, these demarcations reflect strong societal influences and do not pinpoint a biological “age of maturation.” For instance, the age of majority was increased from 15 to 21 in 13th-century England because one needed both to be strong enough to bear the weight of protective armor and to acquire the necessary skills for combat. Societal influences also contributed to the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which in 1971 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 to address the discrepancy between being able to be drafted and being able to vote. Delineating the proper role of developmental neuroscience, particularly neuroimaging, in informing public policy on age-of-consent issues will require extensive deliberation with input from many disciplines.

From the perspective of evolutionary adaptation, it is not surprising that the brain is particularly changeable during adolescence—a time when we need to learn how to survive independently in whatever environment we find ourselves. Humans can survive in the frozen tundra of the North Pole or in the balmy tropics on the equator. With the aid of technologies that began as ideas from our brains, we can even survive in outer space. Ten thousand years ago, a blink of an eye in evolutionary time spans, our brains may have been optimized for hunting or for gathering berries. Now our brains may be fine-tuned for reading or programming computers. This incredible changeability, or plasticity, of the human brain is perhaps the most distinctive feature of our species. It makes adolescence a time of great risk and great opportunity.

Hee hee. I was chatting to a client about memory yesterday – and was doing my usual spiel about memory and some key things that stop memory working well… Thought I’d share my thoughts.

1. Cortisol. If we’re running on either stress or in pain – our adrenal glands release cortisol. Cortisol is well-known to shut down short-term memory.

2. Stress. as per #1. When we’re stressed – if we also activate survival patterns (which can be diffused with kinesiology and Pranic healings) the survival patterns shut off our memory centre because survival is about action – fight, flight or freeze… and therefore memory is unimportant.

3. Logic and Gestalt sides of the brain– memories are allocated to memory centres depending on our hormones. If we’re happy they should store in ‘happy’ or ‘positive’ brain centres, if they’re stressed memories they should be stored in survival pathways – but it’s not even as simple as that! If the pathways aren’t even connecting as well as they should they can get lost in no-man’s-land! It takes time, but kinesiology starts to open these pathways, naturopathy starts balancing these hormones and then the memory has a chance to kick-into-action.

4. Supplements such as Omega Braincare and BrahmiTone are 2 supplements we often prescribe for poor memory. Don’t forget there are millions and millions of neurons and glial cells which need repair when our memory has been dysfunctional for sometime. Take it easy. Allow your brain to heal.

5. Drugs. There are drugs that are well known to deteriorate the size of the brain by 5% per year – so the longer we’re on them (and there are several) the more our brain pays the price.

We can help with memory issues, stress problems, drug dependency and re-integrating the brain.

There is a process called LEAP that is a step by step process of working through neurological issues in the brain – giving an individual access to their full potential and ability. Madonna has been doing LEAP for around 15 years – and it’s an ongoing learning process for practitioners – since they keep finding out new stuff about the brain! We use LEAP and other kinesiology processes for:

Dyslexia and Nervous system disorders

Stage fright, fear of exams, fear of teachers

Dislike of learning, dislike of teachers

Supporting better learning outcomes

Stress and behavioural issues

Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program (LEAP), was developed by Dr Charles T. Krebs in collaboration with clinical psychologists, speech pathologists, neurologists and other health professionals. LEAP is a comprehensive approach to assessing and correcting most learning challenges including dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, and many difficulties with reading, spelling and mathematics.

Neurological conditions involving imbalances in brain function and can affect learning. LEAP addresses these imbalances by re-establishing and maintaining the precise synchrony of the brain.

LEAP is a program that enhances brain function, learning and all areas of performance. The foundation of all high level performance and learning is integrated brain function because the brain is a multi-modular structure “bound” together functionally by synchronised timing of neural activity. Performance of any mental activity can be considered the “symphony of thought”. The output of each brain module must be precisely “timed” to prevent the harmony of mental function from turning into a dysfunctional state. Loss of integrated brain function literally equals loss of effective emotional and mental processing, the primary source of “stress” in our lives.

The purpose of LEAP Brain Integration is to re-establish brain integration during times of stress. Sometimes it was never properly established in the first place. The loss of Brain Integration and thus function may only be situational, causing difficulty and stress performing certain functions in certain situations or circumstances (ex. stage fright) or it may be on-going as in the case of Specific Learning Difficulties.

Far too many of us, adults and children alike, experience cognitive deficiencies that are a direct result of the loss of proper brain integration.
LEAP techniques have helped tens of thousands of individuals to overcome these challenges.

What else do we need to do? The usual suspects!

Check for food intolerances upsetting brain integration

Check for old stress patterns/survival patterns shutting down brain integration

Our team has changed dramatically over the past 12 months, and we have a wonderful team of diverse and highly skilled practitioners whom we’d like to introduce here;

– Our team is led by Madonna, a fantastic Naturopath and Kinesiologist with over 20 years’ experience treating a huge range of conditions.

– Norm has been with us for several years and is a Kinesiologist with many years’ experience, specialising in the LEAP and NOT systems. Norm sees many children in the clinic with great success with learning and brain integration issues. He treats adults as well and integrates Nutrition and Kinesiology. The NOT Process is about structural alignment – great for people with long-term pain and inflammatory conditions, scoliosis, jaw and hip problems, lack of concentration, poor immunity and poor digestive function, endocrine disorders such as thyroid and menstrual problems and so much more.

– Kat is a Musculoskeletal Therapist and Kinesiologist with a unique ability, tapping into the emotional and spiritual aspects of the body through kinesiology, and supporting multidimensional wellness. Kat is also a live blood practitioner, and often combines live blood screenings, followed by a kinesiology session to ‘balance’ what has been found in the blood and w0rks out what is important nutritionally for the client.

– Gabby is our original New Leaf team member and our most recent practitioner addition! Gabby combines her gift of Intuitive Healing with Counselling Kinesiology to support emotional healing and balance.

– Reenee-Jee is a skilled massage therapist, easing tensions and stress through remedial massage, hot stone therapy, and luxurious facials with the high performance, natural facial products from Arbonne.

We work as a cohesive, co-ordinated team, combining our skills to create truly integrated natural health care. The list of conditions we are able to address are endless!

LEAP (Learning Enhancement Acupressure Programme) is a process based on core neurology of the brain. We use a muscle monitoring process which has been used on tens of thousands of people to find which areas of the brain are functioning, and which aren’t. We initially do an assessment on your or your family member and find where the deficits are:

where is the logic in the brain?

where is the gestalt/visual-spatial part of the brain?

what is the dominant hand? eye?

how much function is there in some connecting pathways?

are the visual memory areas of the brain functioning?

how is comprehension?

how is problem solving?

Our process has been developed by Dr Charles Krebs over the past 28 years. Charles is a researcher who’s life has been working towards helping people reach their potential, finding the ways of testing and correcting neurology imbalances that stress us when we are trying to do something new. Charles’ book ‘A Revolutionary Way of Thinking’ was released over 10 years ago and really gives a great understanding of the brain, its potential, what shuts down its potential – it’s a great read!

What stresses you in life?

bookwork

paperwork

your kids homework

helping your child to do their maths or spelling

feeling like your child just isn’t remembering properly? (It feels sometimes like they’re just not trying!?)

memory – walking into one room and not being able to remember properly

These are the type of issues that the LEAP Programme helps to correct. It is aimed at helping people reach their potential – the potential of their individual brain! Not everyone is an Einstein (not that we’d want to be) but we can always find ways of improving the way our brain works.

Our LEAP Programme is for children (of any age haha) and adults who need their brains to function a little better.

For kids who get their letters mixed up, have comprehension issues (read but can’t make sense); where maths is difficult, where balance is off. But, it’s never a quick fix. The brain is complicated, and unfortunately in our modern world it’s taking longer to correct the brain than 10 years ago… LEAP is a process, usually 10-20 sessions for a fairly ‘normal’ kid with learning problems/behavioural problems (usually brain disintegration causes behaviour), more if the child is severely stressed, toxic, allergic…

Changes happen slowly but consistently on the programme as neurological pathways are working better and better. Multi-sensory pathways support improvement with vision, hearing, sight, smell (such as anosmia), touch imbalances. Primitive reflexes that are jammed that create excess fear, threats and dangers in life are slowly released.

Our initial LEAP Assessment with Norm is only $106.50 for 1.5 hours. Find out if LEAP can help you and your family…